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Dear OCASA College Prep Community,
I am excited to accept the position of College Prep Principal. I come to the OCASA community most recently from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, where I served as the Director of Assessment, Research, and Evaluation. In that role, I not only combated learning loss, managed the district assessments, and organized our state funding programs but also worked with our Career and Technical Education and the Project-Based Learning Programs teams. Before this role, I served as the principal of Oxford Academy, a college-preparatory public school in the Anaheim Unified School District currently ranked as the #2 high school in California. As principal, I developed career pathways, student wellness programs, and faculty collaboration practices that raised our national rankings from #33 in the Nation to #19. I have also served as an administrator at two schools in the Torrance Unified School District; however, I began my career at Gretchen Whitney High School, the original Southern California public college-preparatory school, which is currently ranked as the #1 high school in California.
While I am a native of Orange County, I earned my bachelor's degree at Cal Poly Humboldt in English Education, spending a year studying British Literature in London. My teaching credential, master's, and doctorate degrees were all earned at Cal State Fullerton. My dissertation, titled "The opportunity gap in high-achieving contexts: A quantitative study of the relationship between out-of-school time, noncognitive competencies, and student achievement," is focused on finding strategic and innovative ways to increase student achievement.
I consider joining this community of innovators an honor. As we move into the 22-23 school year, our OCASA College Prep team will continue to craft a school experience for students and their families that maximizes their potential, knocks down barriers, and creates opportunities. Thank you for this opportunity, and I look forward to meeting you all soon.
Sincerely,
Alicia Baillie, Ed.D
Principal, OCASA College Prep
